Death Note
by whitetyger123
Summary: I really wanted my friend to read DN, but she said that she didn't like Manga, so I decided to write it out. So, here it is. If it sais Light anywhere, instead of Raito, please tell me. Schoolgirl-Cheesesculpture helped with some parts.
1. Boredom

**DeathNote**

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DeathNote, I'm just writing it out.**

Shinigami realm

The Shinigami realm was just as boring as always. True, most of the Shinigamis gambled to waist time, but Ryuk was different. He wanted something more. He didn't even have the comfort of dying one day. Shinigamis don't die.

_Same old thing, day after day... what a bore._

Two Shinigamis were gambling. '_Two death's heads. I win again.'_

Ryuk looked at them with disgust. _It's been five days now..._ _'Bout time I got going.'_

_'Hm? Where you off to, Ryuk?'_

'_Anywhere you go around here, it's all barren anyway. Hee hee.'_

Ryuk looked back at the two who had spoken. _'I dropped my Death Note.'_ He turned around to start walking again, but one of the gamblers started speaking again.

_'Whoops! Hyuk hyuk hyuk! You really screwed up, man! Hey, weren't you carrying around a __**second **__one behind the old man's back? You saying you lost both?'_ Ryuk turned and walked away without saying a word. But the Shinigami spoke again. '_So, you got any idea where you dropped it?'_

_'Yeah, the Human world.'_ The others looked at his back in shock. Ryuk made his way down the long stairs, and right through the portal. It was time to have some fun.

This single notebook, dropped into the human world by a Shinigami sets off an all-out battle between two chosen people.

**The Human world**

Raito Yagami. If you asked his teachers, they would tell you that he is a very bright student, top of all his classes, and even helps out his friends. Ask his friends, and you would find out that he also is very popular with the ladies. His father would say that he will one day follow in his footsteps to go into the police. He would also say that he has already helped them solve a few cases, and he's only 17 years old! But, if you asked Raito to describe himself in one word, he would say: bored.

Sitting in his English class, listening to the teacher make dozens of mistakes, Raito was bored. He couldn't help it. Like Ryuk, normal just wasn't good enough.

He looked out the window, watching all the normal people going about their normal lives, made him want more.

He was about to get it.

A black notebook on the pavement. That's all it was. But, he could have sworn that it had come from the sky... The bell rang. He could just go outside and check it out.

Just as he suspected. A regular notebook. He flipped it over to see that written on the cover was the name DeathNote. He opened it to the first cover to see English writing. What a pain.

_This is a Death God's notebook. How to use it... The human whose name is written in this note shall die._ Raito rolled his eyes. _Talk about sick. Why's everybody into this kind of crap, anyway? Like those dumb chain letters that say you'll get cancer if you don't pass them on..._

But, that didn't stop him from putting it in his bag.

When he got home, Raito went up to his room. He didn't know why, but he had to finish reading the instructions. It was the only slightly interesting thing that had happened since he helped his dad with a case.

_This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds._

He put it in his desk. _Hmm. So you can let people die peacefully, or make them suffer... A prank this intricate isn't too bad, I guess..._

Laying on the bed, Raito looked at the ceiling. But, his gaze kept wandering back to his desk. 'Write in their name, and they die... how stupid.'

Five days later, Raito was walking home. He said good-bye to his two friends and walked inside. 'I'm home.'

'Raito, is that you?' His mother came out from the kitchen. She looked at him expectantly and smiled.

'Oh, yeah.' He dug in his bag. Finding what he wanted, Raito handed the paper to his mom. 'Here.' He walked away, not caring.

His mother looked at the paper. 'Oh, my! You placer first again – and these practice college entrance exams are nationwide!'

'Uh huh.' He went up the stairs. 'Well, I'll be studying, so don't bother me, okay?' He closed the door to his room without even waiting for her reply.

He heard through the door 'Oh, Raito, is there anything you've been wanting? Anything at all – just let me know.'

'No, mom.' He smiled behind the closed door. _I already have what I want..._ The lock clicked shut.

Raito turned on the television and changed it to the news. Then he went to his desk. Out of the drawer, he pulled out a black book. He smiled as he read the words on the front cover: DeathNote.

'_You seem to like it.'_

Raito spun around, suddenly afraid. He screamed as he saw what was behind him.

The Death God looked unnatural. Just strange. Ryuk was hard to take if you weren't expecting him. Even if you **were** expecting him, it would be quite a shock.

'_Why're you so surprised to see me? I'm Ryuk, the Shinigami who dropped that notebook.'_ He cocked his head sideways. _'The way you were acting just now, I can tell you know it isn't just _any_ old notebook... Right?'_

Sometime during the process, Raito had fallen off of his chair. Now, he looked up at Ryuk in surprise. 'A... Shinigami?'

His face set, he grabbed the back of a chair. He wasn't afraid anymore. Raito was back in control. 'A "Death God"….' He pulled himself up off the floor. 'I'm not surprised to see you Ryuk.' Ratio looked him in the eyes. 'In fact, I've been waiting for you.'

'_Really?'_ Ryuk looked shocked.

'Gee, a personal visit from a shinigami… Very kind of you…' Raito picked up the Death Note. 'Not that I doubted this was a "Death God's notebook", but seeing things with my own eyes like this lets me act with greater certainty. Plus, there're some things I wanted to ask you…' his eyes burned with ferocity as he opened the Death Note for Ryuk to see.

Ryuk was even more surprised as he started looking through it. '_Hee hee. Wow, this is amazing. Gotta say, I'm the one who's surprised. I've heard of Death Notes getting down to the human world a few times before… But no one's ever done this many in just five days. Most people would be too scared.'_

'I'm ready for anything Ryuk,' Raito looked at him with determination, 'I used the notebook knowing it belonged to a Shinigami… And now the Shinigami's here… What happens to me now? You take my soul or something?'

'_Huh?_' Ryuk said, confused, '_What's that? Some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not going to do anything to you.'_

'_The moment a Death Note lands in the Human World, it belongs to the Human World.' _Raito stared at him wordless '_So it's yours now.'_

'Mine…' Raito stared to feel uncomfortable, the responsibility weighing down on him.

'_You don't want it, give it to another human. When you do, I'll just have to erase all your Death Note memories.' _Ryuk opened the sliding glass door onto the balcony from Raito's bedroom. '_Oh, and…' _ He sprouted wings and flew out onto the nearest electrical pole. '_Since you've used what was __**my **__notebook, you're the only one who can see me. Nobody else can hear me either, of course.' _ As to prove his point, two young girls walked underneath him, gossiping to each other, oblivious to the shinigami above them.

'_The Death Note… Is the bond between Raito the human and Ryuk the Shinigami'_

'The bond…' Raito was becoming more nervous. Ryuk flew back into the room. 'So there really is no price to pay for using the Death Note?' he asked cautiously.

'_Well, not exactly…But there is the terror and torment that only humans who've used it will experience…' _ Raito stood there, unsure of what to say. '_And… When you die… I'll be the one writing your name down, but…Don't think that any human who's used the Death Note can go to heaven or hell. That's all.' _Ryuk stood there, waiting for Raito's reaction. Raito started laughing nervously. '_You'll find out about that after you die.'_

Trying to regain what little control of the situation he had, Raito raised a finger. 'O... okay, one more question. Why did you choose **me**?'

'_Huh? Hyuk hyuk! Don't flatter yourself. All I did was drop the notebook, that's all. You thought I __**chose**__ you? Cause you're so smart or something? It just happened to land somewhere around here... and you just happened to pick it up. That's why I wrote the instructions in English – it's the most popular language in your world.'_

The monster continued laughing. Raito couldn't believe it. 'Then why did you drop it?! Don't tell me it was by mistake, after you went and wrote all those instructions.'

He never expected Ryuk's response. _'Why did I drop it...? Because I was bored, that's why.'_ Raito stared at him blankly. _'It might be a weird thing for a Shinigami to say, but I just didn't feel like I was really alive. In actual fact, Shinigami these days don't have a lot to do. All they do is nap, or gamble. If they see you scribbling humans' names into your Death Note, they say, "What're you working so hard for?" and laugh at you. I'm in the Shinigami's realm, so killing people in the human world isn't any fun. But if I write the names of Shinigami into the book, they don't die. It's more fun to be here, is how I figured it.' _Raito looked at him curiously. Ryuk looked at the notebook again. _'Gotta say, though, you really wrote a lot of names in here.'_

'I was bored, too.' Raito's eyes seemed to cloud over. For the first time, he faintly resembled the monster he truly was. 'Of course, I didn't believe it at first, but that notebook has a power... that makes anybody want to try using it, at least once.'

Raito lay on his bed. His eyes went to his desk for the tenth time. This was getting ridiculous. He got up and reached for the drawer. He realized what he was doing, and went back to his bed.

He was at his desk again in a minute.

Just as he touched the pen to the paper, he stopped. 'Wait a minute. If someone actually dies, would that make me a murderer? I guess it would have to be... someone it's okay to kill... who has no relation to me at all... and there has to be a way to find out right away if they die...' He looked to his T.V. _Hey, that's right... Geez, I'm getting too serious about this..._

'The man who indiscriminately killed and wounded six people in Shinjuku is still barricaded inside this nursery school, with eight hostages, including little children.' A picture of a man appeared on the screen. 'The metropolitan police have determined the man's identity. He is Kurou Otoharada, 42 years old and unemployed. Two days ago, Otoharada...'

Raito put in the name.

_Forty seconds, and it's a heart attack... That's 40 seconds... Nothing. I knew it._

'What's this?! The hostages are coming out! They all seem to be all right. And now the police are going in! Will they be able to arrest Otoharada?!' Raito couldn't believe his ears. 'They're coming back out! But no sign of their captor just yet. What exactly is going on?! This just in!! The captor is inside the nursery school, and he's dead!! It appears Otoharada is dead!!'

_Dead? It can't be!_

'The police are emphasizing that they did **not** shoot him. Could that mean he committed suicide? Well, the hostages are apparently saying he suddenly collapsed...'

_It... could just be a coincidence. There's only one way to find out._

'Raito!' He turned at his mother's voice. 'It's 6:25 already. You have your prep course today.'

'Uh, yeah, I was just getting ready to go.' Stuffing the notebook into his bag, he thought frantically. _Somebody it would be okay to kill... no, who __**ought **__to die._

When he got to school, Raito pondered. _So I guess it has to be a criminal after all... but not anyone too major, or the cops might keep it secret for a while. I need a result right away._

He walked into a class room to find a typical scenario.

'Hey, Ryo, baby.'

Ryo was clearly sweating. 'Uh, what Sudou?'

'Lend me some money. Two thousand yen will do it.' Ryo handed him the money. 'Yo, dudes! We're going to the game center tonight!'

_Sudou. Try killing __**him**__? No, I should avoid anybody I actually know... am I being too careful...? A guy like that, nobody's even going to notice..._ A piece of chalk hit him in the head.

'You, Yagami! Mister number one nationwide! What're you doing spacing out? You're our star pupil! We need you to place first again!'

When he was walking home, Raito overheard people talking. 'Hey, Maki. Wanna party tomorrow with some girls from college? Ten o'clock.'

'Yeah, totally!'

'Hey, can I go too?'

'My mom isn't here yet? What's that nag doing, geez!'

_Damn... start looking around you... and all you see are people the world would be better off without._

A couple of bikers crowded around a woman. 'Hey, Girly. How 'bout havin' some fun with me tonight?' She looked for an escape. 'My name's Takuo Shibuimaru. That's Shibutaku for short, heh heh... Come on, girlie, how about it?'

Raito watched out of the corner of his eye.

'I... don't think so...'

Takuo's friends had a laugh over that. 'She doesn't think so, dude!' 'Aww, come on!'

Raito walked into a book store. Looking innocently at some magazine, he brought out the Death Note.

Under Kurou Otoharada, he wrote, _Takuo Shibuimaru. Traffic accident._ Just to be sure, he wrote it a few times over.

Then, he waited.

It should happen exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds after he wrote the first one down. That is, if it would work.

The girl outside ran away from Takuo. 'Hey, girly! I got wheels, remember?'

He didn't even see the bus coming.

_This proves it! The Death Note really works!_ He stumbled into a back alley. Raito felt like he was going to puke. _I've killed two people... me... What do I do? Get... rid of this evil thing... No, I was doing a service, killing Otoharada. _He held on to the wall for support. _But what about the second guy...? That wasn't worth the death penalty, what he did... No, this is what I've been thinking all along..._ He pulled out the notebook. _This world is a rotten mess. It really needs to be... cleaned up._

Walking home, he started feeling better. _With this notebook, I can actually do it... The question is... do I have the guts?_

When he got home, Raito hid under his blankets. _Just two, and look at me. Well, it's only natural. They're human lives... of course it isn't easy. Can I take it? Maybe not._

He looked out the window to see a couple of kids playing ball. _But... come on, I can't quit. So I lose my peace of mind. So I sacrifice people's lives... somebody has to do this! The world __**needs**__ to be cleaned up. Just suppose I gave this notebook to someone else, could they do it? Nobody would have the guts... but I do. I could do it. Not just that... I'm the __**only one**__ who could do it. So I'll do it! I'm using the Death Note to change the world!_

'_Okay.'_

Raito sat on his chair, slightly smiling. 'I admit, it's been giving me bad dreams and I've hardly slept the last five days. I've lost 10 pounds. Still, I'm on a mission here. So I've been writing in the names of the world's most brutal criminals.'

He turned and started writing in some names. 'All the data I need is in my room. World news 24 hours a day on TV, plus everything on the internet.'

Looking at the Death Note over Raito's shoulder, Ryuk noticed something. _'But you only specified the cause of death for the guy who got hit by a truck, nobody else. How come? Can't be bothered?'_

Raito looked up happily. He loved explaining things.

'If you don't specify the cause of death, they all die from a heart attack. That's the best thing about the Death Note, Ryuk. I've already covered the most vicious criminals, so now the level of atrocity is coming down. And every single one of them will die of a heart attack! Even a fool is going to notice that somebody is bumping off the bad guys.'

His smile was unmistakable now. 'I'm going to make the whole world know I'm here... that somebody is passing righteous judgment on them!' He smiled happily. It was cruel that a monster like him could look so innocent. 'And then nobody will commit crimes anymore! The world will start to become a better place. And, while people who obviously deserve to be punished are dying of heart attacks... I'll gradually be killing off immoral people and people who harass others, through illness and accidents.'

He stood up, caught up in the moment. Telling people about his brilliance was wonderful.

'Even that will eventually be noticed by the idiot masses. They'll realize they'll die if they don't change their ways. I'll make this a world inhabited only by people I decide are good!'

Ryuk got his first chance to talk in a while. _'You do something like that, the only one left with a bad personality will be you.'_

This caught Raito's attention. 'What are you talking about, Ryuk? I'm a serious, straight-A student... a model teenager.' His hand curled into a fist. 'And I... will reign over a new world.'

Ryuk smiled._I was right. Humans are fun!_

A G8 Summit

A meeting of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

'Fifty-two in the past week, and that's just those we know about.'

'Every single one from cardiac arrest.'

'All of the victims are either being pursued by police, or already behind bars.'

'We may assume that more wanted criminals, whose whereabouts are unknown, have died as well.'

'In which case, the death toll will be well over a hundred...'

The raven haired man sat on the floor. The computer screen in front of him showed the many police in the Interpol meeting. 'Hmm... so Interpol's finally starting to move on this. Well, this is one case where I'm going to need some help from the police.

Death Note

How to use it

_The human whose name is written in this note shall die._

_This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected._

_If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen._

_If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack._

_After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds._


	2. L

**Chapter 2: L**

The Death Note – a notebook which causes people whose names are written within to die. Raito Yagami – the teenager who decided to use this notebook as a means to purge the world of evil. And Ryuk the Shinigami – the original owner of the notebook, who seems content to act as spectator as Raito pursues his project.

'_I gotta say, you're really dedicated to this.'_

Raito looked up from his Death Note. 'Mm. I don't have time to waist, Ryuk.' He went back to his murderous acts. 'I only have a few hours a day to write names into the notebook – between getting home from school and going to bed. It's important that I stay at the top of my class. So I can't sleep in class, and I have to do all my homework, for both school and my prep course. But I need to get enough sleep, because if I don't, it'll affect my health and my concentration. I'm ridding the world of evil and creating a utopia. No matter how much time I have, it won't be enough.'

A G8 Summit

'But they're all violent criminals who deserve the death penalty several times over. Is it really a great concern?'

Another of the many people in the room responded. 'Who just said that?! That is a totally irresponsible view!'

'That's right. Violent criminal or death row inmate, if someone kills them it's murder!'

'But has it been verified that it's murder?'

'How could more than a hundred heart attacks be a coincidence?! Of course it's murder.' Interpol meetings often went this way. And by this way, I mean nowhere.

'Who could possibly murder that many people over such a wide area, virtually simultaneously?!'

The USA had a response. Of course, it included conspiracy. 'We believe this is a carefully orchestrated mass assassination carried out by a large organization.'

'The only "large organization" capable of pulling off something like that, I believe, would be the CIA or the FBI!'

'I dare you to say that again!'

'Please refrain from jokes in questionable taste...'

One man pounded his fists on his table. 'With so many criminals dying, our pride as police...'

'It's not a question of pride!'

One of the men had an actual helpful suggestion. 'I think we have no choice. This is another one for L.'

One of the two from Japan whispered to his superior. 'L...? What's that, Chief?'

'That's right, this is your first Interpol meeting. Nobody knows L's real name, whereabouts, or even what he looks like. But he can solve any case, no matter what it is. I suppose you could call him a sleuth... no – well anyway, nobody knows who he is. But he has solved countless unsolved cases so far. You might say he's our trump card... our ace in the hole... something like that.'

'But they say L only gets involved in cases that interest him. If not, forget it. And anyway, we have no way of contacting him.'

'L is already involved.' No one could tell exactly when the man in the black coat had come in, but they all knew he was there now. It was always that way. 'L has been investigating this case for some days now.' Watari was almost as mysterious as L.

'Huh? There's another Japanese here?'

The senior said quietly, 'He isn't with us. Watari is the only person who can contact L. But nobody knows who he really is, either.'

Watari walked to the middle of the room and put down a laptop. 'Silence, please. You will now hear L speak.'

A distorted voiced came out of the laptop. 'Good afternoon. This is L. The case before us is unprecedented in scope and difficulty... and is a monstrous crime of mass murder that must be stopped at all costs! In order to solve it, I request the full cooperation of police worldwide, with a resolution to that effect passed at the Interpol meeting today.'

A Sidewalk Near Raito's House

Raito's two friends were walking him home. 'Man, I'm like **glued** to the news these days.' One of them was saying.

'Yeah, me too. It's crazy, all these criminals dropping dead like that.'

'It's kinda scary, but pretty cool, too. I mean, they totally deserve it.'

Raito laughed. He had been hearing people talk about it a lot lately. Everyone was happy to have something interesting to talk about. 'But now **we** can't do anything bad anymore.' Raito laughed again.

'I know. I did some shoplifting back in grade school, and I'm freaking about it.'

Raito turned to go into his house. 'Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow.' He was walking into the house when Ryuk spoke to him.

'_You seem to be enjoying this, Raito.'_

'Not really, Ryuk.' He walked into his house to find his mother on the couch. Going up to his room, he locked the door. 'Because I leave the Death Note here at home. Until I see this, when I'm at school or anywhere else, I just can't relax.' He turned on the TV and his computer. Going on the internet, he quickly found an interesting site.

'Check this out, Ryuk. People are already putting up websites.'

_THE LEGEND OF KIRA THE SAVIOUR_

_Why are the world's criminals_

_being eliminated one by one?_

_Because Lord Kira has returned._

_Lord Kira is a messenger from _

_hell who will not suffer the_

_presence of evil in this world!_

_Beware: you may_

_only enter this site_

_if you believe in Lord_

_Kira's resurrection._

'Kira... I don't really like how it obviously comes from "killer", but that's what people all over the world already know me as. All you have to do is Google "Kira", and you find tons of sites like this. Media reports still refer only to "the series of mysterious deaths among violent criminals", but people all over the world already feel it – that someone is passing righteous judgment on them.' He looked at the Death God behind him. 'This is what human beings are like, Ryuk. Say in school, we have a discussion in class. There's no way the subject would be, "is it all right to kill someone evil?" But let's say that **was** the subject. Everyone would act all virtuous and say, "no, it's wrong to kill anybody." And of course, that would be the proper response. People need to maintain that kind of façade in public.' He pointed to the screen. 'But **this **is what they really think. Cowards. Nobody will acknowledge my existence openly, but out on the anonymous internet, "Kira" rules. He's all over the place.'

Ryuk had stopped paying attention a while ago, but Raito didn't notice. He was too busy ranting about human flaws.

'People know. They won't come out and say it, but someone's killing off the bad guys. Those with clean consciences are cheering Kira on in their hearts, while the guilty are living in fear, waiting for judgment to strike them. This is great. It's going exactly the way I planned.'

On the television, Raito heard the normal news stop. 'We are interrupting the program to bring you a live, globally televised broadcast from Interpol, with Japanese voiceover by interpreter Yoshio Anderson.'

A man in his thirties sat behind a desk. In front of him was a name tag that read Lind L. Tailor. 'I am Lind L. Tailor, more commonly known as "L" – the sole person able to mobilize police in every country worldwide.'

Raito stared at the screen in shock. 'What the hell...?'

Special Investigation Head-Quarters for Criminal Victim Mass Murder Case

'Here we go.'

The room was filled with police from all over Japan. The Chief stood at the back of the room with the other person from the Interpol meeting.

'So this is L.'

The other looked at the Chief. 'But... he's never shown his face before, right? Why...'

'I guess that's how serious he is about this case.' _All right, L. We've been giving you our full cooperation. Now let's see you prove what you said at the Interpol meeting..._

Watari stood by the laptop. 'L, Interpol has passed a resolution promising you their full cooperation.'

'Good. I strongly request the cooperation of the Japanese police, in particular.'

The Chief and the newbie looked startled. 'But, why Japan?'

'Whether this is being carried out by a group or by an individual, it's highly probable that they're Japanese. And if not Japanese, that they are in Japan.'

'How can... on what evidence?'

'Why Japan? I think I'll be able to show you why very soon, in a direct confrontation with the killer. I therefore request that the investigation be headquartered in Japan.'

'Is this going to be that "direct confrontation" he was talking about?'

'Let's watch and find out.'

In Raito's Room

The man on the TV kept talking. 'Criminals have been the target of a killing spree which has turned into the biggest mass murder case in history. This monstrous crime must be stopped at all costs. "Kira", as the perpetrator is commonly known, will be caught. I guarantee it.'

Raito grabbed the Death Note in his hand and laughed. 'Moron! Like **hell** I'll be caught. I've got the Death Note, see? Without this notebook, you don't have any proof – none! There's no way you can catch me! Hmph. I was so ready for this. The police, this guy... I knew this would happen.'

On the TV, Lind L. Tailor smiled. 'Kira, I think I've got a pretty good idea of why you're doing this. But what you are doing... is **evil**!'

Lind L. Tailor had just said the wrong thing.

'Me... evil? I am **justice**! I'm the hero who's liberating people from fear! I'm the savior who's going to be like a god of this perfect new world!' He started writing in his Death Note. 'Those who try to fight me... **they're** the evil ones! You are too damn stupid, L. If you'd been smarter, this could've gotten interesting.'

He finished writing Lind L. Tailor in the Death Note.

'Police worldwide have launched a coordinated investigation.'

'Heh heh, now we'll see what happens to those who offend Lord Kira. The whole worlds watching, L. Twenty seconds to go. Ten. Five, four, three, two, one. Zero!'

Lind L. Tailor grabbed his heart and fell forward.

Raito stopped laughing abruptly when he heard a distorted voice coming from the screen. 'I... I don't believe it... This was an experiment to test a hunch I had, but I never really thought... Kira, you can actually kill people without direct contact.'

Raito looked stupidly at the TV. The dead man sitting on the chair was replaced by one letter. L.

'So... my hunch was right. I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, but you can. You'd have to, of course. It didn't make sense otherwise... Listen to me, Kira. If you just killed Lind L. Tailor, the man you saw on your TV, he was a condemned criminal scheduled to die today, at this hour. That wasn't me. His arrest and conviction were kept secret from the media, and went unreported even on the internet. Even you had no way of knowing about him, it seems. But I, L, do in fact exist. So, come on! Kill me if you can!'

Raito gasped. _That jerk!_

'What are you waiting for? Come on! Go ahead and kill me! I'm still here. Can't do it, Kira? Evidently, you **aren't** able to kill me.'

Raito was sweating. Ryuk laughed. _'The one who's breathing the biggest sigh of relief right now is L.'_

'So there are people you can't kill. That's a valuable clue. Now I'll give **you** some information, in return. Although it was announced that this was being televised globally, actually, it was broadcast only in the Kanto region around Tokyo. The plan was to broadcast live to other areas in turn, but that's no longer necessary. You are in the Kanto region of Japan, Kira.'

'_Hyuk, hyuk. He's pretty sharp, this L.'_

'And, although the police have missed this, your first victim was the Shinjuku killer who took eight people hostage in a nursery school. His crime, when compared to those of the notorious murderers who've died of heart attacks, was not very serious. Moreover, this case was reported only in Japan, nowhere else... that was all the information I needed. I knew, Kira, that you were in Japan! And that your first victim was nothing but a guinea pig for testing your powers! We broadcast first to Kanto because it has the largest regional population in the country. That you happened to be there was pure luck. I didn't expect this to work so perfectly according to plan, but now, I dare say, it may not be so long before I send you to die.'

At the police HQ, the Chief laughed. _He's proved that Kira exists, that he can kill from afar, and that he's in Japan._

'Kira, it would interest me greatly to know how you carry out your murders, but that's something I can find out **after** I catch you!'

Breathing heavily, Raito glared at the big L on the screen. 'Send me to die, he said... L...'

'Kira...'

Both voices joined together in saying, 'I'm going to find and dispose of you, if it's the last thing I do! I am **justice**!'

L parted with a 'Till we meet again, Kira.'

'_So, you're both trying to find someone you know nothing about... not their name, face, or anything else. And whoever is found first, is out. Dead.' __Humans are a riot!_

'I'll win.' Raito stated simply.

'_Hyuk hyuk, I'm watching this contest to the bitter end.'_

Death Note

How to use it

_This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world._

_The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, i.e. a God of Death._

_The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell._


	3. Family

**Chapter 3: Family**

The Shinigami Realm

_'Hey, you seen Ryuk around lately? Cause he said he dropped his notebook down to the human world. You think that was for real? I mean, what if a human picked it up before he found it?'_

_'As if. If something like that happened, he'd have to stick around until that human died, or the notebook is done.'_

_'I know... What a pain in the butt. Not even Ryuk would wanna do __**that**__.'_

_'You never know with Ryuk, though... Plus, I heard he had __**two **__notebooks.'_

_'Why would he want two?'_

The Human World

Ryuk sat on Raito's bed, munching on an apple. _'Never seen you looking so listless, Raito.'_

Still looking out the window, Raito replied. 'Just taking a little break. I want to see what the cops do next.' He put his hands behind his head and leaned back. 'Plus, I'm kind of tired.

'Take one step out of the house, all you hear about is L and Kira. You can't avoid it, even if you want to.' He grabbed a magazine called _Sexy Enquirer_. 'I guess it might be pretty interesting if I wasn't Kira.' Opening it up, he found an article. '"Super-sleuth L, Interpol's shadowy mastermind, vs. Supernatural Kira, telepathic mass murderer." Meanwhile, this magazine is claiming that "L and Kira were invented by the police, who are eliminating criminals without recourse to law." Some people are still denying we even exist.'

He threw down the magazine and (to Ryuk's horror) kept talking. 'Turn on the TV or radio; it's Kira vs. L there as well. If Kira pays too much attention to this stuff, it just stresses him out. Gotta give his mind a rest, once in a while.'

Ryuk noticed how Raito referred to Kira as third person. Interesting, but not enough to stop him being bored.

_'A rest...? Police all over the world are on your tail, Raito... you sure you can afford to chill?'_

'Afford to...?' Raito smiled. 'Yeah, I can. When I picked up this notebook, the reason I could make the decision to purge the world of evil was that I knew I could stick it out even if the police started a manhunt. I have a certain advantage, see.'

His door handle rattled. A girl's voice came from the other side. 'Why do you have to lock your door, Raito?'

Getting up to hide the black book, Raito responded. 'Oh, hey Sayu. What?'

'I need some help with my homework!' Luckily, she didn't seem to hear him open his drawer.

'Oh, okay, sure. Hang on a second.' He opened the door to find a 14 year old girl with a thick bundle of pages in her hands. Unlike her big brother, who had light-brown hair, Sayu had typical Japanese black hair.

'Ta-da! Quadratic functions!' She walked in happily.

Ryuk laughed. '_Watch out, Raito. That Death Note in your drawer, if she touches it, well, anyone who touches it can see me.'_

Raito looked at the papers now on his desk. _**Now**__ he tells me something crucial like that... this damn Shinigami..._

Sayu picked up the magazine Raito had been reading. She saw the picture on the front and laughed. 'Hey, you were reading this magazine? Isn't it kinda dirty? Oh, I know. Is this why you locked your door?'

'I was looking at the articles about Kira and L.'

Sayu smiled. 'Oh, yeah. You're going to be a detective when you grow up. So you're studying for that, too. Wow.'

Raito sat down and started doing Sayu's work and writing down the steps for her. 'That's right. I'm going to be the top honcho at the National Police Agency.' The National Police Agency (NPA) is Japan's equivalent of the FBI.

Ryuk was still confused about what Raito had said earlier. _Could this be the "advantage" he was talking about? But that's years from now, if he makes it at all..._

A Hotel

The raven-haired man looked out the window. _Why couldn't Kira kill me? Because I'm not a criminal? That couldn't be it. Considering the circumstances, he definitely would have done it if he could. So it's got to be... because he doesn't know what I look like...?_

The laptop crackled into life. 'L.'

'What is it, Watari?'

'The task force is starting its meeting.

'Good. Link me up.'

Special Investigation Head-Quarters for Criminal Victim Mass Murder Case

The Chief looked at his papers. 'Next, the victims.'

A man stood up. He started reading from the paper in his hand. 'We've been able to determine that details regarding all of those believed to be victims, i.e. criminals who have died of cardiac arrest, were available in Japan. As for the time of death, which L was particularly interested in finding out, sixty-eight percent of the victims died on a weekday between four p.m. and two a.m. Japan time, with a majority of those between eight p.m. and midnight. On weekends and national holidays, time of death was scattered between eleven a.m. to about two a.m.'

He sat down, finished his report. The Chief nodded. 'Okay, next. Tip-offs.'

Another man stood up to give his information. 'So far we've received 3,029 phone calls from the public, of which the vast majority wanted to know if the Interpol broadcast the other day was genuine, and/or if L actually exists, but there were 14 callers who claimed to either know Kira, or to have seen him. We got detailed descriptions from those callers, which are given in my report, but none of them are credible. We also received 21 calls from people claiming to be Kira. Not wanting to rule out any possibility, however slight, we took statements from each one, and have them on file.'

'So that's all the reports for today. Next, if you've noticed anything, or have a question, go ahead.'

A young man in the back stood up. 'Here, sir.'

'What is it, Matsuda?'

'This is in no way meant to give credit to Kira, but, well... in the past few days there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of violent crimes committed worldwide, especially in Japan.'

The whole room looked to Matsuda like he was insane.

The Chief didn't show that anything had happened. 'Well, I suppose that's only to be expected, considering... Anyone else? So I guess that's all for today's meeting.'

The laptop on the desk had a big L on the screen. 'Thank you. I feel like we're getting a little closer. Now, I've got another request for you, if you don't mind. This is for the squads in charge of victims, media, and the internet. I'd like you to investigate once more **how** the victims were reported in the Japanese media. Namely, I want to know if reports included photographs or footage showing the faces of the criminals who later died. Thank you for your help.'

Watari closed the laptop and left without saying a word.

The Chief stood up. 'All right. Two teams on the night shift. Everyone else, continue with the investigation or go home and get some sleep, as you wish. Meeting's over.'

Everyone got out of their chairs with a clatter.

When the Chief went outside, Matsuda followed him. 'Chief! Are you heading home?'

'Hm? You bet. Pulled another all-nighter yesterday.' He continued walking to his car. Matsuda kept following him. 'What is it?'

'When I said "crimes have been decreasing"... well, I'm sure it's something everyone's noticed, but maybe I shouldn't have said it?'

The Chief stopped and turned around. 'What are you talking about? Facts are facts, and they need to be laid out on the table. All the more so if they're hard to bring up. Of course it **would** have been a problem if you'd said "crimes have been decreasing thanks to Kira, so let's honor him for that."'

'I would **never** say that, sir. Honor a psychopath?

Raito's Room

Sayu looked up from the homework Raito was doing for her. 'Gosh, you're such a math whiz!'

'Look, do you really get it?'

Sayu was saved by the bell, literally. Someone was at the front door. 'Oh, that must be dad. He's home early today.' Sayu ran downstairs to meet her father.

Raito yelled after her. 'Hey, at least finish the last one by yourself!' Sayu either didn't hear him, or just didn't want her father to know she was getting help from her big brother again. Raito followed her downstairs.

In the door walked the Police Chief.

Mr. Yagami took off his shoes. Raito saw him, and smiled. 'Welcome home, dad.'

At the dinner table, Ryuk stood behind Raito, watching. As far as he could tell, they were acting like a perfectly normal family. Only, this family had a serial murderer and a police Chief in it.

Mr. Yagami looked up from his plate. 'How's school going, Raito?'

Raito stopped eating to respond to his father. 'Okay. Same as usual, dad.'

Sayu laughed. She always found it funny when her brother tried to be modest. 'Yup, top of the class as usual! You can count on Raito!' But, she faltered when her dad asked her the same question. 'Who, me? Are you... sure you want to know? I guess it's... same as usual for me, too.'

They continued eating without saying a word for a few minutes. 'You seem tired, dad.' Raito said.

'Well, this case is a hard one, to put it mildly. It's practically a wild-goose chase. But, the person in charge of the investigation did say today that judging from the estimated time of death, the killer is probably a student.'

Raito's mother, Sachiko, interrupted. 'I really don't think this is a subject for the dinner table.'

'Why not? We've had cases before where ideas from Raito helped us move the investigation forward.'

Ryuk finally understood Raito's "advantage". _It's his father, the detective superintendent of the NPA!_

Raito finished up and put his dishes away. 'Sayu, was that all the help you needed?'

Mr. Yagami looked at his daughter. 'Was Raito helping you do your homework again, Sayu?' Raito left to the sounds of his parents telling her how she should really learn to do the work herself.

He locked the door to his room. Ryuk looked at him. _'So, they've already narrowed it down to a student in the Kanto region of Japan.'_

The devilish smile told Ryuk that the human had a plan. 'Narrowed it down? I've been acting from the start to lead them to that conclusion, Ryuk. Now I can use the Death Note at a different level. "If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing a persons name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds." Correct, Ryuk? So, if I write "heart attack" as the cause of death, I can add all kinds of details. I think you're going to enjoy what happens next.'

Special Investigation Head-Quarters for Criminal Victim Mass Case

Three days later

'What? There were 23 heart attack victims **again** yesterday?!' Mr. Yagami stood up. 'And just like the day before, they were all prison inmates... so we'd know immediately they died... and all 23 of them died exactly one hour apart from each other.'

Someone sighed. 'Two days in a row, and both of those were weekdays. Looks like it might not be a student after all...'

'Come on, anybody could skip school for a couple days'

The speaker on the laptop spoke. 'That isn't it! It's true he might not be a student, but that isn't what Kira's trying to tell us! What Kira's saying is he's free to set the time of death as he pleases.' _Also, _thought L, _that he has some way of getting information known only to the police! And, this is clearly a challenge directed at me..._

An Abandoned Field

Raito opened the fence door. Ryuk flew lazily behind him. _'Huh. So that's what you've been doing.'_

'Heh heh, I bet L's really floundering now. I still have a reserve of at least 50 criminals I've kept aside for times like this. But I've got a problem that needs to be solved, too. Whoever touches the Death Note can see you, right, Ryuk? Ever since I heard that, I've been keeping it on me. But walking around with this thing is even more dangerous.'

Raito got the Death Note out of his backpack. 'Until now, I was thinking if anyone in my family saw it, I could explain it by saying I've been keeping notes on the Kira case, to practice becoming a detective. Even without this headache, I'm walking on a tightrope here. If I blow it... Kira will have to kill his own family.'

Death Note

How to use it

_If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name._

_The human who touches the Death Note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a God of Death, even if the human is not the owner of the note._


	4. Current

**Chapter 4: Current**

Raito was fiddling with electric circuits and some gasoline. _'I don't think you came here because you enjoy the __**ambience. **__What're you up to, Raito?'_

Not even looking up from his work, the youth replied. 'Whoever touches the Death Note can see you. That's a problem.'

The Death God laughed. _'Yeah, you can't exactly pass me off as a friend.'_

'Nope. My sister would have a heart attack just from seeing your face.' All of a sudden, whatever Raito had been playing with exploded in fire. He smiled his evil smile.

A Hotel Room

He sat on the bare floor, legs crossed. _From the estimated time of the victims deaths, I told the task force that there was a strong possibility Kira is a student And then, as if mocking the very notion, the next day Kira eliminated 23 prisoners at intervals of exactly one hour, and did the same thing again the next day. He was showing me that he can set the time of death. Until then, Kira was setting the time of death to lead me to the conclusion that the perpetrator was a student... Does that mean he managed to dupe me?_

L stood up and started pacing. _But the bigger issue is that Kira was some way of obtaining information known only to the task force. That's the main point. What's Kira's real aim in letting me know that? What is he trying to do? Regardless, police information is leaking to Kira. I have to do something about that._

Picking up the cell phone, he dialed the number. 'Watari, it's me. Leave the task force office for a moment.' When the man on the other end confirmed he was outside the office, L kept speaking. 'Go somewhere the police can't see or hear you, and link me up to the director of the FBI.'

Outside a Home Improvement Store

_'Now for some shopping?'_

Raito unfolded a piece of paper. 'I need some things for hiding the notebook. I want to hide it in my room, where I can easily take it out and put it back. At the same time, it has to be someplace my family would never touch it. And by now, L is starting to suspect people involved in the investigation. If he wants to catch Kira, he needs a confession from me, or the Death Note. One or the other. So if I'm hiding it anyway, I might as well put it someplace they'll never find, even if they come to the house with a search warrant.'

Raito grabbed a plank of wood from a shelf and went to the checkout line.

_'Hey Raito, can I ask you a question? Your dad's the NPA's Chief of Detectives, so you can use him to find out what the cops know. And that's the advantage you were talking about if the cops start closing in, right?'_

The brunet walked out the automatic doors. 'I can even hack into my dad's computer from mine, without leaving a trail. So I can stay right on top of the investigation.'

'_But why did you deliberately do something to make L suspect people involved in the investigation? Isn't it a lot worse to have him realize you have a link to the cops, than to have him think you're a student?'_

Walking with the shopping bag in his hand, Raito whispered to Ryuk, 'Very good. So you noticed that was strange. But you don't have a very good understanding of human beings yet. Remember what I told you?'

Ryuk rolled his Shinigami eyes. _You've told me a million things. How am I supposed to remember something about humans?_

'About human beings being foolish, two-faced creatures. The answer to your question is I want to find L and eliminate him. If all I do is hide the notebook, I'm not going to find him, am I? In human society, there are very few people who truly trust each other. That's true even within the police. When it comes to the police and L, they don't trust each other at all. Never have. Who'd trust someone who keeps his name and face hidden from you? Now that L knows I have access to task force information, he's going to look for me within the NPA. And when that happens, it'll just be a matter of time before the cops get really mad. On the face of it, L and the police are working together to catch me. Well, I guess they actually **are** working together, but behind the scenes, L will be spying on the police, and the police will be trying to track down L! So L is not going to be found by me. The police will take care of that. And then I'll eliminate him. I'm positive that the one who's going to have the police closing in on him first will be L, not Kira.

Special Investigation Head-Quarters for Criminal Victim Mass Murder Case

Three men laid down a piece of paper each. Mr. Yagami looked at them. 'What the hell is this?' The attention of the whole room was focused on the three men.

'Exactly what it says. A letter of resignation. Either you put us on another case, sir, or, if you can't do that, I leave the NPA.'

The Chief looked at each of them in turn. 'But why?'

'Why? Because we value our lives, sir. According to L's reasoning, Kira uses some paranormal means to kill people without having direct contact with them, correct? If I were Kira, I'd try to get rid of the people who were trying to catch me, because if we catch him, he gets the death sentence. That time he pulled the stunt with the television broadcast, L dared Kira to kill him. But L never announced his name, or even showed his face, in that broadcast. And then, the other day, he told us to check how the victims had been reported in the Japanese media. He wanted to know if photographs or footage showing their faces were included in the reports.'

One of the other men slammed his hands on the table. 'Well they were! Every single victim so far was someone who's face was shown! In other words, unlike L, we all do our work carrying police IDs, with our photographs right there on them. We don't hide our faces. We're right out there in the open. Kira could get us anytime. And that's why we're requesting a transfer, sir.'

The middle man added 'We've got families, sir.'

The other policemen in the room started talking. The idea was catching on. Kira could kill them at any moment.

A Hotel Room

_So, for Kira to murder someone, he needs their face, at the very least._ Walking around, the raven-haired detective pondered. _Interesting. That, and..._

Raito's Room

The teenager sat back, satisfied with himself. 'That was easier then I thought.'

'_You managed to hide the Death Note?'_

Raito pointed to his desk. 'It's hidden inside this drawer. I can just keep the key in the keyhole. It's better to hide it someplace obvious-looking like this.' He pulled the handle to reveal a book that said DIARY. 'Most people would probably just read this diary with its boring descriptions of what I do every day, and think that's what I was keeping under lock and key.' He grabbed a pen from his desk. 'But the real key is this.' Unscrewing the top of the pen, he took out the ink cartridge. 'Something nobody would be surprised to find lying around my desk, the ink cartridge of a ballpoint pen. On the underside of the drawer is a tiny hole you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it. You stick this in the hole,'

The bottom of the desk popped up to show the Death Note under a false bottom.

_'I get it. The drawer has a false bottom. This is why you spent so much time at that store, picking out a board. With that diary as a decoy, and this... I guess nobody will find the notebook.'_

Raito smiled. He wasn't finished. 'That's not all. Even if they suspect the drawer has a false bottom, they'll never be able to just lift the notebook out like this.'

Where the ink cartridge came out from the bottom of the drawer, there was a wire circuit. In the middle was a bag of some kind of liquid. 'See this? The ink cartridge is plastic, so it doesn't conduct electricity. Unless you stick it in here, a current will pass through this and ignite the gasoline in this thin plastic bag. The notebook will go up in flames, just like the one I tried outside this afternoon.'

On the underside of the false bottom was a wedge of rubber. 'When I close the false bottom, this rubber here goes between the metal pieces, so it replaces the ink cartridge as the insulator, and the current stays interrupted. In other words, unless you open it exactly like this, the notebook goes up in flames and all the evidence is completely destroyed. If they question why I went to all the trouble, I just have to say that was my real diary and I didn't want anyone to see it. That's the most human of reasons, and there **will be** the remains of a notebook in there, after all.'

Ryuk surveyed the contraption. _'I'd heard that when humans get hold of a Death Note, finding a hiding place for it becomes their number one headache. But I bet you're the first one who went this far. Still, talk about playing with fire. If you make even a little mistake opening this, you'll burn yourself really bad.'_

'Playing with fire? I'd hardly call this playing, Ryuk. And anyway, I've been plying with fire from the start, taking all kinds of risks. And each of those risks actually helped make me safer. What's better, having a small fire in the house, or getting the death penalty?'

Head of the FBI's Office

'Yes, that's right. I'm requesting that you conduct a thorough, top-secret probe of all NPA personnel involved in the Kira case, as well as their close friends and family.'

The old man closed his eyes. 'L, are you suggesting one of them may be Kira?'

'Yes. In fact, I'm sure of it.' The phone answered. 'The number of American criminals believed to be Kira's victims is 327. That's by far the most worldwide.'

The director of the FBI shook his head. 'All right, we'll do as you ask.'

'Thank you. And please do the best you can. We have to stop Kira as soon as we can.

DeathNote

How to use it

_The person in possession of the Death Note is possessed by a God of Death, its original owner, until they die._

_If a human uses the note, a God of Death usually appears in front of him/her within 39 days after he/she uses the note._

_Gods of Death, the original owners of the Death Note, do not do, in principal, anything which will help or prevent the deaths in the note._

_A God of Death has no obligation to completely explain how to use the note or rules which will apply to the human who owns it._


End file.
